A tempted Saviour—our best succour

‘For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.’ Hebrews 2:18

Suggested Further Reading: Hebrews 4:14–16

I am certain of this, that when through the deep waters he shall cause you to go, or you are made to pass through furnace after furnace, you cannot want a better rod and staff, nor a better table prepared for you in the wilderness than this my text, ‘In that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.’ Hang this text up in your house; read it every day; take it before God in prayer every time you bend the knee, and you shall find it to be like the widow’s cruse, which failed not, and like her handful of meal, which wasted not: it shall be unto you till the last of December what now it is when we begin to feed upon it in January. Will not my text suit the awakened sinner as well as the saint? There are timid souls here. They cannot say they are saved; yet here is a loophole of comfort here for you, you poor troubled ones that are not yet able to get a hold of Jesus. ‘He is able to succour them that are tempted.’ Go and tell him you are tempted; tempted, perhaps, to despair; tempted to self-destruction; tempted to go back to your old sins; tempted to think that Christ cannot save you. Go and tell him that he himself has suffered being tempted, and that he is able to succour you. Believe that he will, and he will, for you can never believe anything too much of the love and goodness of my Lord. He will be better than your faith to you. If you can trust him with all your heart to save you, he will do it; if you believe he is able to put away your sin, he will do it.

For meditation: Of all who have lived on earth the Lord Jesus Christ had the greatest experience possible of exposure to temptation, but was the one and only total stranger to sin. In this dual capacity he is uniquely and ideally qualified to help us in our ongoing conflicts with both temptation and sin (Hebrews 4:15). Are you one of those who seek his help?

Sermon no. 487
4 January (1863)